Teachers’ Written Feedback: Does the Delivery Method Matter?

Natalia Koliadina

doi:10.17323/2411-7390-2015-1-2-27-34

Abstract

Responding to student writing, which is a widely researched area, is still one of the most challenging parts of the EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teacher’s job. Little attention has been given to analyzing the role of systematic feedback on students’ improvement of writing at the university. The paper reports on the results of a small-scale action research conducted among first-year undergraduate students, which explored the effect of record sheets, used as a tool to track student progress in writing argumentative essays. Apart from student portfolios and record sheets, the 8-week study used other methods of data collection that included recorded semi-structured interviews and a survey. Findings show that providing consistently structured (praise and criticism) selective (global and local) feedback to students has a positive effect both on the teacher and on student perception of feedback and, generally, their achievements in developing writing skills. The study may motivate EAP practitioners to change their current classroom practices and seek more effective ways of responding to student writing.

Highlights

Responding to student writing, which is a widely researched area, is still one of the most challenging parts of the EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teacher’s job
While responding to student writing is a widely researched area, and both teachers and students feel that teacher written feedback should be an integral part of the writing process (Ferris, 2001; Hyland, & Hyland, 2001; Montgomery, 2007), it is still one of the most time-consuming and challenging parts of the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teacher’s job
Many students seem to think that addressing local errors is the most important part of writing classes

Summary

Introduction

Responding to student writing, which is a widely researched area, is still one of the most challenging parts of the EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teacher’s job. Little attention has been given to analyzing the role of systematic feedback on students’ improvement of writing at the university. The study may motivate EAP practitioners to change their current classroom practices and seek more effective ways of responding to student writing. While responding to student writing is a widely researched area, and both teachers and students feel that teacher written feedback should be an integral part of the writing process (Ferris, 2001; Hyland, & Hyland, 2001; Montgomery, 2007), it is still one of the most time-consuming and challenging parts of the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teacher’s job. The primary aim of this research was to explore

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Conclusion